For the love of monograms!

Excited to share this video of a local TV spot that aired during the Kim Kardashian wedding special recently. The Wedding Cafe was interested in pieces with a monogram design (an homage to Kim Kardashian's invitation), so I whipped up an entire suite of stationery for them: invitation, thank you card, menu, mini cupcake favor box, and program fan. I only had a few days to come up with something, but I channeled the inner Kardashion in me and blinged everything out as much as I could! Enjoy!


twc 1 from fisheyestudio on Vimeo.

Real wedding: Cheryl and Chuck

Oh, how I adore my clients. They sustain me, inspire me and motivate me to keep on doing what I love.

Exhibit A: Cheryl and Chuck

The happy couple at the Royal Hawaiian hotel

I remember my first consultation with Cheryl very well. She came in with  photos of her flowers, photos of the wedding attire for her bridesmaids and groomsmen, and a clear idea of what she wanted for her invitations. What transpired was a very modern design in charcoal gray and fuchsia, complete with a custom map/directions card and a fun wedding week timeline.

Charcoal gray pocket fold invitation with multiple insert cards and wraparound address label

I always LOVE this wedding ring shot!

The finishing touch for the invitations was a tag that Cheryl tied to the outside of the pocket folds.

Back in April, I blogged about one of my couples that was mailing invitations to Mickey and Minnie and the White House. Well, that couple was Cheryl and Chuck and I'm happy to report that not only did Mickey and Minnie respond, but so did the President and First Lady! This is what they received from The White House:

A memorable wedding keepsake for sure!

Thanks to Cheryl and Chuck for sharing these wonderful images from their wedding! (Photos by Visionari)

Happily ever after...

A penny earned...

It's official. The postal rate for a 1-ounce letter is going up by a penny on January 22, 2012 ($0.44 to $0.45).  Price for additional ounces remains unchanged at $0.20. Postcard rates are going up by three cents ($0.29 to $0.32). You can download this PDF from USPS for a complete rundown on the rate changes.

Oh, and if you're patting yourself on the back because you're planning to mail out your wedding invitations in the next couple of months, don't assume that you're in the clear. If your RSVP deadline falls after January 22, make sure that you have the correct amount of postage on your RSVP envelopes (or RSVP postcards) so your guests don't have to pony up the extra cents.

Scenes from the show

My first wedding expo was back in 2005 and it's amazing how much my booth display has evolved. Maybe one day I'll post some photos and do a side-by-side comparison, but this is what my booth looked like at the most recent show:

A few of my favorite custom designs



Rows and rows of chair boxes with escort cards

 

Lots of cute favor packaging options



Our mini cupcake boxes and custom printed cupcake sleeves were a hit!

Part of our wall display showing all the paper options!


In the week leading up to the expo, I also designed a few stationery pieces for Menehune Mac's new booth display. It was a fun collaboration and I really love working with them!


A place card with vintage lace accent

 

Menu card with antique gold mat



Place card and table number card (peacock feather adorned with Swarovski crystals)

 

Menu card with harvest gold floral pattern and chocolate brown accents.

 

Table number tentfold card with aubergine mat

Wedding Expo recap...and some rambling

The Thing That I Forgot
Oops, I kinda missed the boat on this one. Emi Ink participated in the Hawaii World Class Wedding Expo this past weekend over at the Convention Center and I had wanted to do a quick post to invite everyone to visit our booth. Unfortunately, time got away from me (shocking, I know). Can we just pretend that the invitation got lost in the mail?

The Part Where I Ramble
I had fun chatting with brides (and grooms!) and I finally got to show off all the new stuff that's been keeping me busy these past few months. Luckily, I had Jessica (aka Super Intern) helping me out in the booth and coaching me through my first attempt to Facebook via my iPhone. Honestly, I don't think I could do much beyond blogging without this trusty 19-year-old secret weapon at my side. She's so patient with me and never makes fun of my silly questions even though we both know that I'm a bit hopeless. I mean it's a little embarrassing that I can never go directly to my business page without first doing an actual search for my business name...I go to the search box, start typing in "Emi" and then I have to ignore the first search result which is always "Eminem." This amuses me EVERY SINGLE TIME because I wonder if someone has ever searched for "Eminem" and then accidentally found my page instead? What a rude awakening that would be! Oh, and then there's the search result that pops up AFTER my business name...Emi Ink Tattoo. Wow. Again, the thought of someone searching for a company to ink their Celtic tribal full arm sleeve and arriving in a world of chartreuse and plum wedding stationery accented with Swarovski crystals just makes me chuckle. I'm easily amused.

I'd Like To Thank The Academy
A BIG mahalo goes out to Jessica (naturally), Les Saisons for dressing my tables in a gorgeous platinum linen, Menehune Mac for the perfect treats to fill my favor boxes, Menehune Mac (again) for including some of my stationery pieces in their beautiful new booth display, Bit of Sugar for the most adorable cupcakes to show off my cupcake sleeves and mini cupcake boxes, Sonya (she's kind of a rock star and just goes by one name in my book) for being my go-to-gal for a lot of my production needs, and a special thank you to my set-up crew (aka my parents). I think it's safe to say that I have the most "senior" set-up crew in the wedding industry but don't let their retiree status fool you...they hustle, take direction very well, and their seasoned craft fair know-how is a big help to me during my early morning set-up. And plus, they work for free.

Ok, the real wedding expo recap is coming later this week complete with pictures!